A long test day begins

Today, with the commencement of the Abbreviated Functional Test, the final checkout of the radar instrument began. The team is now complete - travelling yesterday from Moscow, additional colleagues from Astrium and the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) arrived at just the right time. For most of them this is not their first stay here in Baikonur - they previously worked on TerraSAR-X and the facility and the working environment are familiar to them.

Together with DLR, the team will execute the procedures, record the test data and analyse them afterwards. We expect a long day. Not far from the satellite, separated only by a moveable wall, our colleagues from Yuzhny are making progress in checking out components of the launcher’s upper stage. All this intensifies the sensation of an imminent launch. However, this will only take place after 25 more days of fascinating work.